After the Trial
by NazChick
Summary: What happened to Lin and Su the night of Yakone's trial? Both girls are home alone when they hear someone trying to break in. Hopefully Toph and the gang arrive in time.


**My own take on what could have happened after the Yakone trial. I've made Su five years old in this story and I've envisioned Lin as being around nine years old, almost ten. I'm not sure exactly how old the girls were at the time of Yakone's trial so I took the liberty of being the author to decide the ages myself. Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors. Enjoy and feel free to leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra or The Last Airbender. **

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><p>"Lin, Lin wake up." Su cried shoving her sister awake<p>

Lin mumbled in her sleep and turned over to face five year old Su. Lin blinked her tired eyes as her sister's body came into focus in the dark room. "Su, what are you doing up?"

"Mommy isn't home yet! She's been gone all day." Su cried into her stuffed badgermole

Lin sat up and switch on the light, revealing the silent tears rolling down Su's face; patting the mattress next to her, Su clambered up into her sister's bed and curled up next to Lin. Lin began to stroke her fingers thru Su's hair to help relax her little sister.

"I'm sure there was just a bunch of paperwork after the trail got out, so nothing to worry about." Lin tried to explain to Su even though she also was worried that their mom wasn't home yet

"But mom can't do paperwork."

"Oh yeah…I keep forgetting that." Lin chuckled resulting in a small chuckle from Su as well

Lin glanced over at the clock and found that it was almost eleven, "You know what, since it's so late how about I call over to Aunt Katara and see if Uncle Aang is home yet? Aunt Katara should know what's taking them so long."

Getting out of bed, Lin lifted Su and placed her on her hip as she walked into the living room to use the phone. Quickly dialing the number for Air Temple Island, Lin waited patiently for someone to answer the phone. However, the phone just kept ringing.

"Is anyone answering?" Su asked after a few minutes

"Um…no, no one's answering."

"Should we go over there?"

"It's the middle of the night Su, that wouldn't be safe."

"But they might know where mom is!"

"I know what we'll do, let's call over to the police station. They probably know where mom is."

"Fine."

Once again Lin picked up the phone, this time dialing the number for the police station. However, there was no ringing this time, only a dial tone sound.

"Something must be wrong with the phone." Lin said hanging up the phone and going to sit on the couch

"Now what?" Su asked once again snuggling into Lin's side

Before Lin could answer a sound came from the front door. Both girls turned their attention to the door and watched as the handle shifted and jiggled as someone tried to open the door. Fear crept into Lin since their mother would just bend the door open. Moving quickly Lin hopped off the couch with Su in her arms and ran back to their mother's bedroom, locking that door as well.

Lin removed her socks so her bare feet were on the stone floor that Toph insisted on having. Although she had just started her seismic sense training, Lin could make out four individuals walking into the house. Turning to find Su standing right behind her, Lin grabbed Su's hand and climbed up onto their mom's bed to get closer to the window.

"Lin, what's going on?" whispered a very scared Su

"We need to jump out the window." Lin replied ignoring her sister's question as she didn't want to scare her anymore then she already was

Lin glanced out the window and was very glad that their house only had one floor. After opening the window the whole way she stuck her hand outside and bent a pillar of earth up to the window. Su climbed onto the pillar just as the doorknob began to rattle. Lin quickly followed her sister onto the pillar and bent the earth back down. Once on the ground Lin grabbed her sister's hand and ran.

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><p>Over on Air Temple Island Toph and Sokka were just waking up. Aang had brought them back from the courthouse a few hours before in order for Katara to heal them but even after their healing session they had both remained unconscious. Katara brought both of them some water and food as they got their bearings, Toph slide one of her feet to the floor feeling the entire island.<p>

"Where are my kids?" Toph asked concern evident in her voice

"We call the station and had them go pick them up since Aang and I were busy taking care of you two." Katara explained

"Alright then but why weren't they brought here?"

"I'll call the station and ask I'm sure that's where they are."

As soon as Katara had left the room Toph got out of bed and began searching for her uniform. Sokka also got up and began to change back into his clothes as it seemed that his sister had stripped both of them to just their underclothes for the healing sessions. Once changed both Toph and Sokka heading towards the living room, Toph walking a little faster than normal.

"You have a bad feeling don't you?" Sokka asked as he sped up to keep up with her

"Yeah I do, my officers would know to bring the girls to Air Temple Island, especially after what happened today."

They arrived in the living room just as Katara was hanging up the phone, a worried expression now on her face.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked seeing the look on his sister's face

"They said that the patrol officers sent to Toph's house were ambushed, they just found the men knock out a few blocks from the house and the house is empty."

Toph felt as if the ground had been removed from under her feet, she reached out to grab Sokka's arm to keep herself from collapsing. Cling to him all she could think about was the fact her girls were missing.

"Do they think it was the Red Monsoons? Maybe they're trying to get back at us for putting Yakone behind bars." Sokka asked while also rubbing Toph's back trying to reassure her

"That would make the most sense. They said that there was evidence of a forced entry but no struggle. Maybe Lin and Su were already awake and managed to get out of the house."

"I like that theory a lot." Sokka mumbled glancing down at Toph who was still clinging to his arm in a very un-Toph like manner

"I'll go get Aang and will have the acolytes watch the kids, meet us at the bison stables." Katara ordered as she ran to the meditation garden where Aang was. Sukko and Toph ran to the bison stables and began to get Appa as ready as they could. Once Aang and Katara arrived, Aang placed Appa's saddle and the gang took off towards the Beifong's house located on the outskirts of the city.

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><p>Lin and Su had run not towards the city but away from it as their mother's room was at the back of the house. As the darted thru the trees, Lin kept glancing back to see if they were being followed.<p>

"Lin, Lin I'm tired." Su whined as Lin practically dragged her along since her short legs couldn't keep up with Lin's longer strides

In response Lin simply ran faster until she finally stopped and hid them behind a tree. Both girls were breathing heavily when they heard a branch snap near them. They froze and Lin placed a hand over Su's mouth to keep her quiet.

"Do you think those Beifong brats came this way?" Came a voice from somewhere behind them

"They're somewhere out here, maybe they went over towards the stream."

Lin knew of the stream the men were talking about, it was about 20ft from where they were hiding. Listening they heard the men move over towards the stream and once they were far enough the two girls slowly snuck in the opposite direction.

"Hurry up mom." Lin whispered as she dragged Su further into the forest.

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><p>Aang landed Appa outside of the Beifong house and the gang quickly disembarked. Sokka and Aang ran inside to do a quick swipe of the place while Katara and Toph walked around the outside of the house.<p>

"Everything checks out inside, no sign of a struggle. It is strange though that they also broke into your room Toph." Sokka announced once him and Aang joined the women outside

"Actually that makes perfect sense because this section of earth has been moved." Toph said gesturing at a circular piece of earth that if you looked closely at you could tell it was still a few inches above the rest of the ground. "It's right outside of my window too, Lin must have bent the earth up so her and Su could escape thru the window."

"So now we just need to find them." Katara said relieved

"And the people going after them." Toph reminded her

"How are we supposed to know where they went? They could have run into the city or away from it." asked Aang

"Toph, does one of the girls normally wear a headband to bed?" Sokka asked

Aang and Katara turned to find Sokka standing in the bushes near the start of the forest holding up what appeared to be a green headband. Toph quickly walked over to him and snatched the headband from his hand, feeling the material.

"It feels like the one Su wears." She answered, Sokka watched as tears gathered in her eyes briefly before she brushed them away

"So we just need to search an entire forest." Katara stated staring into the dark forest in front of them

"What about your seismic sense?" Sokka asked Toph

"That should work." She replied and then sent out a vibration thru the earth, focusing on her daughters' heartbeats. Relief flooded her when she found them.

"I see them, they're moving closer to the mountain."

"Let's take Appa, we'll cover more ground that way." Aang decided

"Good idea Twinkletoes, since I also sense four other heartbeats moving towards them."

The entire gang looked worried as the climbed back onto Appa and took off with a quick, yip-yip, from Aang.

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><p>"Lin can we stop?" Su cried exhausted as they made their way closer to the mountains that surrounded Republic City<p>

Lin slowed down also exhausted from running and dragging/carrying Su along. They sat down at the base of a crop of rocks to catch their breath.

"Do you think mom is coming?" asked Su

"I'm sure her, Uncle Aang, Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka are on the way right now." Lin reassured Su

"Well that'll be perfect timing."

Lin jumped up and took a defensive stance in front of Su, facing the four men that had appeared out of the forest. The men chuckled, each taking their own stances while Su pressed herself as far into the rock crop as possible.

"No need to be afraid kid, we're just going to keep an eye on you and your sister till your mom shows up." The one man said advancing towards Lin and Su

"I'm not scared of you!" Lin shouted as she called stomped the earth

An earth pillar shot up at the man closets to her, knocking him out instantly. The next thing Lin knew two of the other three men sent fire punches at her. She brought up an earth wall as fast as she could, managing to deflect the brunt of the attack with it; Su screamed as some of the fire managed to get around the small barrier. Lin looked back at Su and saw the fear in her face, enraged Lin sent part of her barrier forward at one of the fire benders. The fire bender was able to dodge it while sending another blast at the girls, this blast caught part of Lin's arm causing her to cry out and fall backwards. The second fire bender took the advantage of Lin's distraction and sent another punch of fire but it was blocked by a two large slabs of earth that created a tent around Lin and Su. Lin stared in shock at the earth that now covered her and Su. Ignoring the pain in her arm, Lin turned and looked at her sister to find her with her arms raised up also with a look of shock on her face.

"Li…Lin was that you?" Su asked startled staring at Lin with wide eyes

"No Su that was you! You just earthbent for the first time and saved us." Lin smiled at Su in excitement and hugged her little sis.

"Now what Lin?" Su asked her eyes starting to tear up again, "I want mommy."

"Shhh any second now mom will be here, you'll see." Lin reassured her, pulling Su into her arms and sitting down with her

Lin listened with her feet to what was going on outside. The three men were still there, the fourth still unconscious. Although she was appearing strong for Su, Lin was worried. Try to think a way out of their situation Lin suddenly heard a loud roar from above the earth tent.

"That sounded like Appa." Su mumbled into Lin's chest

"I think that is Appa."

A loud thud was heard as something large landed on the ground followed by shouting.

"Can you hear what's happening?" asked Su

"No, the slabs of earth seem to be too thick to allow sound thru."

"Who does it feel like?"

"Feels like mom, Uncle Aang, Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka." Lin smiled

As the girls waited to see what would happen next a knock came on the outside of the tent.

"All clear you two." Came the tired and worry sounding voice of their mother

Smiling Lin brought down the earth slabs that Su had called up and helped Su climb over the pieces that didn't fully retract back into the ground. Su flung herself into Toph's open arms while Lin kept back and looked around. The three remaining men were all now knocked out; one was even encased in rock.

"Aren't you going to give your old mom a hug too my big badgermole?" questioned Toph

Lin smirked and ran over into her mother's arms as well. The enjoyment of being in her mother's arms did not last long as the burn on her arm decided to remind her that it was still there. After only a few seconds Lin suddenly cried out in pain and pulled away from Toph.

"Lin what's wrong?" Toph reached forward to grab Lin again in concern and managed to grab the burned arm resulting in Lin screaming in pain.

"Lin got hurt by the firebender." Su said from next to her mother

Katara kneeled down next to Lin and Toph, Lin now cradled in her mother's arms with the burned arm away from Toph's body. Drawing some water from her pouch Katara went about healing the burn on Lin's arm.

"Will she be fine Sugar Queen?"

"She'll be fine Toph, It'll just be sore for a few days but it shouldn't scar at all."

"Good." Toph pulled Lin closer now that her arm was healed and also pulled Su in as well, holding both of her girls in her arms

"I'm so glad that we found you two." Toph said just quiet enough that Lin and Su could hear her

"Me too mom." Lin replied while Su nodded

"Let's get back to the island. We can send out some of the police officers to round up these guys." Aang said as he approached the small family

Toph stood up with Su on her one hip and holding Lin's hand with her free hand. While at any other time Lin might have argued about holding her mom's hand, saying she's too old or what have you, Toph was very glad that Lin did not argue in that moment. They all piled back onto Appa's saddle and took off back to Air Temple Island. Once there Katara got the Beifong women set up in one of the guest room, Toph insisted that she stay with the girls so all three were situated on the double bed. Su had fallen asleep while they were on Appa, the very hectic night being very tiring for the five year old. Lin however, was still awake as Toph laid her and Su in the bed before getting in between the two girls.

"Mom are you awake?" Lin whispered into the dark room

Toph shifted from laying on her back to laying on her side facing Lin, "Yes badgermole, what's keeping you up?"

"Why were those men after Su and I?"

"Because I arrested their gang leader, he's the one I had the trial for today at the court house."

"Was there leader a really bad man?"

"Yes, he was very bad. He even tried to escape at the trial but your Uncle Aang chased after him and caught him again."

"Why didn't you chase him? Did he hurt you?" worry was evident in Lin's voice as she asked

"Yeah, he hurt all of us. But don't you worry because Aunt Katara fixed up me and your Uncle Sokka and we're right as rain now." Toph rubbed Lin's arm in order to reassure her

"Good."

"Did you make that earthtent?"

"No, that was all Su. She saved me; I didn't react fast enough like you can."

"Well you still have a ways to go in your training squirt so don't feel bad and now Su can train with us too."

"Can we still have mom and Lin time?"

"Of course my first badgermole, we'll always have mom and Lin time."

"Good." Lin yawned and snuggled into Toph before closing her eyes. Toph felt her oldest fall asleep and smiled, very glad that while her little girl was growing up that she still wanted to protect her sister and spend time with her mom. Feeling that her body would no longer fight falling asleep Toph finally gave in since now both her girls were safe.

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><p><strong>I hope you like it! Feel free to leave a review! <strong>


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